And indeed, in recent years, childbirth at the age of 40 is no longer surprising, it has become quite commonplace.

Moreover, in many developed countries of the world, in particular in Great Britain and the USA, the number of women who gave birth after 40 already exceeds the number of those who became a mother before the age of 20.

The development of reproductive technologies and advances in medicine are shifting the female age of childbearing further and further. Bridget Nielsen gave birth at 54, Janet Jackson at 50, Halle Berry at 47, Rachel Weisz at 48.

Since pregnancy and childbirth place an enormous burden on all organs and systems of the mother's body, the question arises: how safe is very late motherhood for the woman and for the child?

Women over 40 have significantly higher rates of complications during pregnancy and childbirth than those who give birth at a younger age.

If you decide to postpone motherhood until after 40, be prepared for the fact that pregnancy and childbirth can be associated with high risks.

The decision to give birth after 40 certainly needs to be approached with even more awareness than a pregnancy at a young age.

On one side of the scale - a new page in life and a lot of positive emotions, and on the other - a high risk of chromosomal abnormalities in a child.

From the point of view of nature, everything is quite clear: it is better to give birth to children from 23 to 35 years.

Because young women have better egg quality, the probability of chromosomal pathology in the fetus is less, they themselves still have a lot of strength and health not only to successfully carry and give birth to a baby, but also to get up at night in the first years. Starting from the age of thirty-five, it can be said that the countdown begins, and the woman's fertility is slowly falling, and the risks are becoming more and more.

A woman who decides to give birth after the age of forty should understand the peculiarities of such a pregnancy and try to reduce these risks in every possible way.

The risk of pathologies in the fetus increases

Starting from the age of 35, and especially after 40, the likelihood of a chromosomal abnormality in a child increases. These can be both relatively common pathologies such as Down syndrome, Patau or Edwards, and more rare ones. Let's take Down's syndrome as the most common and compatible with life. So, if a 30-year-old mother has a chance of having a baby with Down syndrome is about one in 800, then by the age of 40 we are already talking about a ratio of one to a hundred, and at 44 years old - one to 25.

That's why all these categorical statements “Did you get pregnant at 40? You're having a baby with Down's Syndrome!" far from the truth. Yes, the risk increases, but the probability is still not critical.

In addition, there are modern, highly accurate and safe methods for testing the fetus for genetic abnormalities. For example, a non-invasive prenatal test is performed, that is, a test on the mother's blood, starting from 10-11 weeks of pregnancy. Fetal DNA is isolated from the mother's blood and they look for genetic abnormalities - both frequent and quite rare.

Of course, there are more traditional and also quite accurate research methods, but they are associated with a risk to the fetus, because tissues are tested that are previously removed from the uterine cavity.

There are also screenings that are carried out in the first and second trimester in antenatal clinics for blood and ultrasound. Their accuracy is quite low, and if it is important for you to know about the presence or absence of a chromosomal abnormality in the fetus, then it is advisable to use more accurate methods.

50% of late pregnancies are terminated before 12 weeks

Also, in parallel with the increase in the likelihood of pathologies, the frequency of abortions in the early stages is also growing, that is, these are interconnected things. Half of all late pregnancies are terminated before twelve weeks. Accordingly, it will be either a frozen pregnancy or a miscarriage.

Caesarean section will help avoid intrauterine death of the fetus

In addition to genetic defects in the embryo and early termination of pregnancy, women of the older age group may experience a number of other problems associated specifically with age and health. It can be a whole baggage of gynecological diseases, some operations, uterine fibroids that occurred at the age of 38-40 years. And all this can have an impact on the course of pregnancy, on the risks of bleeding during childbirth, even on the birth itself.

It is authentically known that in pregnant women older than 39 it is advisable not to wait for forty weeks, but to give birth earlier.

Because, starting from the thirty-ninth week, the percentage of intrauterine death of the fetus increases: the placenta works under heavy load, the body has practically spent all its strength on pregnancy. In a normal situation, the body understands that its resources are not enough, and childbirth begins.

In patients of the older age group, the “time to go” mechanism may not start, and the fetus simply dies in utero. And this is a normal child, with a normal set of chromosomes, just the placenta in the last stages no longer copes with its function, and the “lever” for the onset of labor does not work. Therefore, doctors recommend such women to have a caesarean section at a period of 38-39weeks.

The main thing is a healthy lifestyle

In general, the outcome of pregnancy and childbirth depends on how healthy the woman is. At forty years old, different people's body can be preserved in different ways. The place of residence of the family plays a significant role: it is one thing when a woman lives in nature, eats natural products, moves enough, and quite another when she lives in a metropolis, eats food from the nearest supermarket, is little in the fresh air, but sits a lot at the monitor and nervous.

But this does not mean that if your health is not very good, you should not dream of a child. Even in the most difficult cases, healthy children are obtained, although such pregnancies are, of course, more difficult. This is done in our medical center by several specialists at once: an endocrinologist, a therapist, a gynecologist. We live in an iodine-deficient area, and the longer we live in it, the more likely it is that thyroid disorders will accumulate, such as hypothyroidism.

Preventive medical examinations should be carried out regularly.

Do not think that when you are 40 years old, that's it, you can't give birth.

When deciding to give birth at a later age, a woman needs to undergo a complete examination. That is, not only to look at the reproductive system, but also to check the heart, blood vessels, hormones, and so on. It is equally important to start (at least start!) Leading a healthy lifestyle: quit bad habits, start eating right and love physical activity.

Our Avicenna Medical Center has been successfully specializing in the treatment of infertility and miscarriage for more than 11 years, as well as in preparing women for pregnancy and further management of pregnancy.

Obstetricians - gynecologists together with a urologist - andrologist and narrow specialists solve numerous problems of future parents so that a healthy long-awaited baby is born.

To prepare for pregnancy, an integrated approach and highly effective methods are used, which are not available in most other centers: lymphocytotherapy, SCL.

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